


Ultraviolet

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: The Speed of Light [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, M/M, there's a small child in this fic and she is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 03:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2453024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico's turn: A story about having friends, defenestrating cats, and very small wavelengths.</p><p>(a type of light with a wavelength shorter than any on the visible spectrum)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ultraviolet

Life at Camp was… different.

Good different, definitely, because (reluctant as Nico was to admit it) most anything was better than barely sleeping and spending most of his time with the dead.

It wasn’t perfect, but considering how close they’d come to getting wiped out entirely a few weeks ago, Nico could live with not perfect.

Okay, yeah, things were still a little weird with Percy. But since that was all on Percy and literally entirely out of Nico’s control, he was living with it. And anyway, it was more than made up for by the entirely unprecedented _good_ relationship Nico was building with Annabeth.

She was helping him with a much-needed redesign of the Hades cabin, and given the opportunity to bond _away_ from Percy Jackson it turned out they got along pretty well.

“Hey, Annie, you said that you and Percy are sticking around for senior year, right?” Nico asked one afternoon. Annabeth rolled her eyes at the nickname, but didn’t protest. It had kind of become a running joke.

“We are,” she confirmed, nodding.

“Well how’s that work, then? I thought Percy was a sophomore when he –“ Nico finished the sentence with a vague wave of his hand to indicate disappearance.

“Okay, Technically it isn’t senior year,” Annabeth admitted. “But it’s a rough equivalent. I mean, some year-round campers leave for school – like, Abby Hill and Will Solace go to school in Connecticut, but come back here for weekends and stuff – but not everyone does or can. So we do classes here. That’ll include you this year, won’t it?”

“Don’t remind me,” said Nico. “I haven’t had to go to school since I was ten.”

Annabeth elbowed him playfully. “It won’t be so bad. Maybe I’ll be one of your tutors.”

Nico made a show of considering this. “I _suppose_ that wouldn’t be too awful.”

“Oh, hey, speaking of Will Solace,” Annabeth said.

“That was some segue, Annie.”

“ – I’m glad to see that you two are getting close,” Annabeth continued as if Nico hadn’t spoken.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, no offense, but you need friends,” she answered, shrugging. “And honestly, I’ve been worried about you. Last year, after the war, it looked like things were okay and you were going to stick around, but then… you started to pull away. And maybe that went both ways, but you just disappeared. But now you’re making friends, settling down; it’s good.”

Nico half-smiled. “Yeah, it is.”

“That, too,” Annabeth said. “In the entire time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you smile as much as in these last few weeks.”

\--

“For the sake of my sanity, _please_ tell me I can shadow travel again.”

“What a greeting!” replied Will with a laugh. “No _hey, Will, how was your visit home? Did Abby make you throw any objects out windows?_ – just straight to the _how long until I can use my powers without disintegrating_. Wow. Really feelin’ the love.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “How was your trip?”

“It was _great_. No object defenestration this time,” Will answered, grinning.

“That implies a precedent,” Nico pointed out.

“ _And_ it doesn’t rule out person or animal defenestration,” added Abby. “Go on, Billy, tell ‘im about the cat.”

Nico, who had been about to jump back on the ‘when am I allowed to visit my sisters’ train, froze. “Did you throw a cat out the window, Sunbeam?”

Will flushed bright red. “It was Abby’s fault.”

“Oh no it wasn’t,” replied Abby, holding her hands up and shaking her head.

Will frowned at his sister, who grinned gleefully. To Nico, he said, “You should be alright to shadow travel now, but if you start to fade again you need to find another way to travel for a little while longer. To be honest, I’m mostly guessing.”

“Hey, wait, what happened to the cat?” replied Nico. He was glad to hear that he _probably_ wouldn’t disappear if he went on a day trip to New Rome, but now he was curious.

Will shook his head and adjusted his backpack. “Nope.”

Over his shoulder, Abby mouthed ‘ _I’ll tell you later_ ’ before turning on her heel and starting to run down the hill.

“You planning a trip then, Nico?” Will asked as they followed her at a much slower pace. He looked – well, alright, Nico wasn’t exactly amazing at reading living people, but if he had to put a word to it he’d say that Will looked _nervous_. Tense, maybe?

“Nothing long term. I was thinking of visiting Hazel and Reyna sometime soon,” said Nico.

Will relaxed. “Oh, cool. Have fun!”

\--

Two weekends later, after Annabeth had started tutoring Nico and after Will and Abby had started school, Nico had border patrol duty. He was waiting at the top of the hill for the rest of his patrol group.

“Well would you look at a that,” a familiar female voice said behind him.

Nico turned around and saw Lou Ellen coming up the hill. “Hi, Lou.”

“Will didn’t tell me he’d requested you as our third patrol member,” Lou Ellen said, grinning.

“Requested? Annabeth told me patrol teams are assigned at random,” replied Nico.

“Yeah, _usually_ ,” said Lou Ellen. “But patrol leaders can request people, and Will _must’ve_ , because everybody knows Jason Grace requested you, too.”

“Oh,” said Nico, rubbing the back of his neck and _sure_ he was blushing. “I didn’t –“

Lou Ellen laughed. “I’m sure you didn’t.” She poked him in the ribs. “But I bet you don’t mind.”

Nico was saved from having to respond to this by Will appearing. “Hey, guys, sorry I’m late. One of the Ares kids fell off the rock wall and broke an arm.”

Lou Ellen and Nico winced.

“Alright, let’s get going,” said Will.

Their shift was almost over when it happened.

Out of nowhere, a satyr carrying a little girl came running toward the border. Chasing them were a pair of dracanae.

Not good. Very not good.

“Lou Ellen, I think a distraction is in order,” said Will.

Lou Ellen nodded. “Can do.”

But before she could do anything, the satyr tripped. Nico could see a spear buried in his back. The girl screamed as she started to fall. On instinct, Nico stepped into the shadow of the nearest tree and popped up as close to her as he could, reaching out to catch her. It was a near thing, but he managed to keep her from hitting the ground.

“Nico!” Will shouted. “Get her inside the border!”

Nico nodded and stepped back into the shadows. This time he reappeared inside the Big House, just outside the infirmary. He carried the girl inside, set her down on one of the beds, and flopped onto the one next to it, exhausted.

“R’you magic?”

Nico rolled over to face her. “Not exactly. But kind of, I guess.”

“’cause we were outside, and then you caught me and then were here,” she said. “So you must be, right?”

“I mean, I guess I really don’t know what else to call it,” said Nico.

“Is Glen going to be okay?” she asked.

“Is Glen the boy who was carrying you?” Nico replied. She nodded. “I wish I could tell you he will, but no. I don’t think so.”

The girl sniffled, her big brown eyes filling with tears. “My mom’s g-gone, too. Glen said it w-wasn’t safe at home anymore.”

“Pretty likely.” He realised his mistake when she sniffled again. “Oh _no_ ,” Nico muttered. He hesitated, then sat up and held his arms open. She crawled across the gap between the beds and hugged him. He awkwardly patted her back. “Don’t cry, uh – what’s your name?”

“Aisling,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Hi Aisling,” he replied. “I’m Nico.”

“Nico’s kind of a superhero, you know.” Nico looked up and saw Will leaning against the doorframe, looking a little tired but otherwise alright.

“He is?” asked Aisling, hiccupping.

Nico opened his mouth to protest, but Will was already talking. “Oh, yeah. He’s saved this camp a bunch of times.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know if –“

“Yeah, really,” confirmed Will. “He’s kind of awesome. Now, Ash, do you mind if I check you over? My name’s Will, by the way. I’m a medic; I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Aisling glanced up at Nico, like she was looking for his advice. Not really knowing what else to do, he nodded.

“Okay,” she said.

Aisling turned around, but stayed perched on Nico’s knees while Will made sure that she hadn’t sustained any serious injuries on her way to them. She didn’t look hurt, but considering the fate that befell her protector, it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Do you know anything about your dad, Ash?” Will asked casually while he worked.

“I don’t have one,” replied Aisling.

“Everybody’s got a dad somewhere,” said Will. “Sometimes they’re just a little… weird. Like yours. I won’t go into details, but somewhere in this camp you’ve got a whole family of siblings just waiting for you.” He patted her knee. “But we’re _all_ cousins here, more or less. You have any cousins back home?”

Aisling shrugged. “A couple, but they’re babies. Babies are boring.”

Will laughed. “Well, there aren’t any babies here.”

“Thank the gods,” Nico muttered, which only ended up making Will laugh more.

“M’I gonna stay here?” Aisling asked.

“Yes,” said Nico.

“You’ll live with your siblings, just as soon as we figure out who those are,” Will added. “Until then, you’ll be with –“

“With me,” Nico blurted. Will gave him a funny look, but didn’t say anything. “Well, you’ll sleep in Cabin 11, because they take all the newcomers. But you’ll spend the days with me. I don’t have any cabin-mates, and there are a lot of Hermes kids. It’ll be easier for me to keep track of you.” He paused, realising that his was one of those _I’m used to being on my own without having other people in charge_ times. “If the adults say it’s okay.”

“It should be fine,” said Will. “Unorthodox, but fine. It’s in her best interests, after all. Hermes Cabin could be overwhelming. What do you say, Ash? Do you want to hang out with Nico all day?”

Aisling twisted around and studied him. Her nose couldn’t have been more than five inches from his. At last, she said, “Okay.”

And that was how Nico got his shadow.

\--

“Alright, do you remember the words Percy taught you?”

Aisling rolled her eyes. “ _Yes_ , Nico.”

“Go ahead, then,” he prompted.

“Oh Fleecy, do me a solid,” Aisling recited with a toothless grin, “show me Will Solace.”

Will’s face appeared in the fountain, with Abby looking over his shoulder. Will waved. “Hey, guys! We hear you’ve got some good news.”

“Go ahead, Shadow,” said Nico, nudging her. It had been six weeks since Aisling showed up, and even the campers who were afraid of Nico had had a tough time finding him intimidating with an adorable blonde 8-year-old trailing after him everywhere.

“I got claimed!” Aisling exclaimed. “I’m a child of Apollo!”

“No way,” said Will. He had a genuine grin on his face that made Nico’s heart do a weird little skip. “That makes you my little sister!”

“That’s awesome, kiddo!” Abby said. “Even if it _does_ mean you’ve got this dummy for a brother now, too.”

Aisling giggled. “An’ the big kids gave me a new nickname, too!”

“Oh, yeah?” said Will. “What is it?”

“It’s, uh, Ul- ul-tra-violet,” Aisling answered carefully. “’Cause I’m little. I don’t really get it, but s’fun.”

“They’re calling her UV for short,” Nico said, squeezing her shoulders. “But she’s still Shadow to me.”

As she talked to Will and Abby, Aisling leaned more and more on Nico, clearly starting to drift off. After she yawned the fourth or fifth time, Nico declared it bedtime.

“Aw, Nico, curfew isn’t for another hour,” Abby protested.

“She’s eight, Abs,” Will reminded her.

“Say good-bye, Shadow,” said Nico.

Aisling sighed dramatically, but went along. “Good night, Abby. Good night, Will.”

“Night, Ash!” chorused the two older half-bloods. Will added, “G’night Nico!” too, before waving a hand through the image.

“C’we call your sisters before bedtime?”

“Nope,” said Nico.

“But I wanna tell them!” said Aisling.

“Ash, you’re falling asleep already,” Nico pointed out gently. “Tomorrow. Now thank Percy for letting us use the fountain, and I’ll carry you back to Cabin 7.”

“Thank you, Percy,” Aisling said dutifully, then held her arms up for Nico to lift her. He picked her up, glad that she didn’t weigh much, as he was pretty tired, too.

“Any time, UV,” said Percy, waving. Nico nodded to him and left the cabin.

Somewhere between Cabin 3 and Cabin 7, it occurred to Nico that while he’d never _expected_ to find himself living at Camp Half-Blood, with friends and a little shadow and a relatively decent relationship with Percy freakin’ Jackson, but there was nowhere he’d rather be.

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case anybody's wondering, Aisling is pronounced "ASH-ling" (hence the nickname).


End file.
